I am Emperor Shizu of Song

Chapter 155 Please cooperate with me, Brother Guan; though my body is in the Jin camp, my heart is in the Song.
To be honest, Emperor Zhao Huan was not lacking in soldiers compared to his father—at least for the officials he wanted to appoint and who needed to help him with important matters, Zhao Huan was very willing to promote them.

This is quite reasonable, as Zhao Huan had only been in power for half a year and had taken the throne on the spot, so his prestige was not comparable to that of his father, Zhao Ji.

If you're not willing to give people quick promotions, who will be willing to work hard for you?

That's why he was willing to give Li Gang a rocket-like promotion, instantly elevating him to the position of Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, concurrently in charge of the defense of Bianjing.

That's why he was willing to promote Zhao Zicheng to the position of Military Commissioner of Liangzhe Circuit, only asking Zhao Zicheng to help him welcome the retired emperor back to the capital.

Moreover, after the retired emperor returned to the capital, Zhao Huan did not immediately discard his distant cousin's post as "Pacification Commissioner of Liangzhe Road," but instead retained it.

The main reason was that Zhao Huan hadn't considered that once he took this assignment, he could give Zhao Zicheng a new official position so as not to give people the impression that he was mean and ungrateful.

Since we can't figure it out, it's better to avoid trouble for now. As long as Zhao Zicheng isn't allowed to leave Bianjing easily and can't actually take office, the nominal posting can remain in place, it doesn't matter.

Moreover, when Zhao Zicheng returned to the capital, Zhao Huan also issued another decree to him, which was to send Zhao Zicheng's wife and children, who were left in their hometown of Xiuzhou, to live with him in Bianjing.

Zhao Huan's reasoning was as follows:

"The Jin army may attack again in the future, and the court needs to gather more forces to protect the capital. Troops from all over the country may be mobilized to defend the emperor at any time."

Since my esteemed brother is a capable military commander with courage and influence among the Jiangnan army, it would be better for him to remain in the capital. When the troops from Liangzhe Road come to the capital to defend the emperor, he can coordinate and direct operations from a nearby location, reducing friction between the various armies.

In short, Zhao Huan was once again offering Zhao Zicheng a promise, implying that he might be given some command and coordination authority in the event of another defense of Bianjing, but in exchange, Zhao Zicheng's entire family would have to move to Bianjing so that he, his wife, and his son could be reunited.

It wasn't time to turn against Zhao Huan yet, and Zhao Zicheng wanted to maintain his image as a loyal and patriotic figure, so he didn't object. On his way to welcome the retired emperor, he also brought his wife from Xiuzhou and a "son" who was less than two years old.

However, in reality, since the child was not even two years old and had almost no contact with outsiders before, who knows if this child is Zhao Zicheng's biological son? Zhao Zicheng even specially chose an infant whose brain and language development were relatively late and who could not speak yet, and claimed that he was his biological son. In a short period of time, no one could verify or confirm this.

As for his wife, this cannot be faked, because many people have seen his wife, including the female relatives of some meritorious officials and nobles.

The beauty of the Murong sisters, Murong Qiu and Murong Yan, is so unparalleled that it is impossible to forget them after just one glance; it would be extremely difficult to fake that.

Fortunately, the Murong sisters looked remarkably alike, and the Murong family had always claimed to have "one son and one daughter." Those in official circles who were familiar with Zhao Zicheng knew that Prince Xiu had an enviable, stunningly beautiful wife and a handsome brother-in-law.

This has remained a secret for many years, even though the Murong sisters frequently switch identities, sometimes appearing in women's clothing and sometimes in men's clothing. Outsiders have never noticed anything amiss, since they have never both appeared in public dressed as women at the same time.

Therefore, this time, Zhao Zicheng left his sister Murong Qiu, who knew no martial arts, behind to pretend to be his brother-in-law and handle maritime trade affairs at sea. He then sent Murong Yan, who was skilled in martial arts, to Bianjing as Zhao Zicheng's wife, acting as a de facto hostage to reassure Zhao Huan for the time being.

Zhao Zicheng's status as the legal wife was always presented to the outside world as someone "without the strength to kill a chicken and completely without martial arts skills." Even when Murong Yan used martial arts, it was always as a man; she never used martial arts when appearing as a woman.

Therefore, those who were wary of Zhao Zicheng could never have imagined that such a delicate and beautiful woman would possess such remarkable martial arts skills and be able to escape at a crucial moment.

It should be noted that during the past three years, while Zhao Zicheng was in hiding and observing mourning for his parents, he not only practiced martial arts diligently every day, but one of his wives, Murong Yan, also practiced martial arts frequently.

Or rather, aside from the few uncomfortable days each month when her period came, or during her pregnancy with her daughter and postpartum confinement, Murong Yan practiced martial arts every day. She had no political affairs to worry about, which gave her more free time and allowed her to focus solely on practicing with her parents.

Murong Yan also received the complete teachings of the Star Shift and Longevity Daoist Canon, but she couldn't spar with men outside and could only practice on her own in seclusion. However, even though Murong Yan's physical strength was limited and she couldn't compare to Zhao Zicheng, she still possessed nearly half his power.

If Murong Yan were to go out and train with generals like Huyan Zhuo and Xu Ning, she would definitely be able to defeat them. However, it's hard to say how she would fare against someone of Guan Sheng or Lin Chong's caliber.

All of this is the source of Zhao Zicheng's confidence in bringing his wife to live in Bianjing.

……

Because Zhao Zicheng's wife and children had all come to Bianjing, as the wheels of history turned into July of the first year of the Jingkang era, Emperor Zhao Huan's wariness of Zhao Zicheng decreased significantly once again.

It can be said that if Zhao Zicheng's wife and children had not come, the emperor would most likely not have dared to give him much power. But since they came, the emperor could give him more flexible assignments.

Coincidentally, in early July of that year, the Jin army made new moves in the Hebei direction. If you don't have a concept of this, you can compare it with the original history. In the original history, after the Jin army first invaded the south and withdrew after negotiations, it was quiet for more than five months, until it broke the treaty again and went south in mid-August.

Therefore, the Jin army showed signs of attacking about forty days earlier this time. Moreover, considering that the timeline for the peace agreement was also delayed, the Song and Jin armies actually only maintained a ceasefire for a little over three months.

However, the content of the Jin army's actions this time was quite different from the original historical records.

Historically, after the peace talks, the Jin army only ceased military operations in all areas east of the Taihang Mountains, but maintained offensive pressure on Taiyuan in Shanxi until they finally killed Wang Bing, the garrison commander of Taiyuan.

In this current timeline, the Jin army, having weakened slightly, withdrew from the Bianjing battlefield and relieved the siege of Taiyuan, leaving only a small force to block the Jingxing Pass and Huguan Pass.

In July, the Jin army suddenly opened up a new operational direction and began to attack Cangzhou, Hejian, Dezhou and other places in eastern Hebei.

These places are not strategic locations, because there are no strategic locations on the entire Hebei Plain that must be captured or defended. The terrain is too flat, a vast expanse of fertile land.

When the Jin army first invaded the south, in order to concentrate their forces and break through as quickly as possible, they did not deliberately occupy those places, but at most just passed by them.

To reach Bianjing, one only needs to travel south along the western Hebei region, near the Taihang Mountains. The eastern Hebei Plain does not obstruct the route from Yanjing (Beijing) south to Bianjing.

The Jin dynasty had a small population, and dispersing its forces during a decisive battle was not a good option.

However, due to the various influences and butterfly effects caused by Zhao Zicheng, the Jurchens have become more shameless and more focused on practical interests than in the same period of history.

Perhaps the money and supplies extorted during the previous attack on Bianjing were insufficient, and the Jurchens faced logistical difficulties in launching another full-scale invasion southward. Therefore, this time the Jurchens decided to disregard their dignity and any pretext of righteous indignation. They simply plundered the eastern Hebei prefectures, which were not in their way before, massacring entire cities and looting everything they could.

It's similar in nature to the original method of gathering grain to raise military funds.

Because of the previous Song-Liao wars and the struggle for Yanjing, Hebei Road was already very devastated, and the prefectures along the Bohai Sea on the east side of Hebei Road were even more severely damaged—because in this world, Zhao Zicheng still had influence in Goryeo. For several years, Zhao Zicheng had been digging up displaced people from the Hebei coast who could not survive and relocating them to Goryeo to cultivate land.

As a result, the actual remaining population of the coastal prefectures in Hebei was much smaller than at the same time in history. Those who starved to death or migrated were the only ones left. When the Jin army attacked, these prefectures already had little defensive strength and were essentially abandoned by the court.

The local population was sparse, and once the Jurchens entered, they ruthlessly exploited the land, even slaughtering the three prefectures of Cangzhou, Hejian, and Dezhou. They looted everything they could, leaving nothing behind, even a single centimeter or foot of cloth, to be used as military supplies. The Jurchens' brutality aroused immense hatred and resentment among the Han Chinese people of Hebei. Unfortunately, there were very few survivors; even fewer managed to escape and report to their compatriots elsewhere what the Jurchens had done.

However, the truth eventually came out, and half a month later, in late July, the Bianjing court learned the details of the horrific tragedy that had occurred in Hebei East Circuit.

Zhao Zicheng learned about the situation in Hebei East Circuit much earlier than the imperial court—for no other reason than that Zhao Zicheng had many trusted military officers with whom he had good personal relationships in the various prefectures along the river in Jingdong East Circuit, which is adjacent to Hebei East Circuit.

For example, there was Guan Sheng in Jinan Prefecture, Qin Ming and Huang Xin in Qingzhou Prefecture, and Hu Yanzhuo, Xu Ning, and Hu Yanqing in Dengzhou and Laizhou. After the military officers in Jinan Prefecture and Qingzhou Prefecture learned of the urgent reports from Hejian and Cangzhou, they would immediately inform Zhao Zicheng privately.

In addition to these intelligence channels, Zhao Zicheng also had another unique intelligence channel, which was the merchant fleet that he regularly sent to Cangzhou to pick up immigrants. These people received the news even earlier than Guan Sheng and Huang Xin, and after receiving it, they could immediately hand it over to Guan Sheng and ask him to send it back by fast horse.

In conclusion, Zhao Zicheng learned of the Jin army's raids and advances in the eastern Hebei region at least five or six days earlier than Zhao Huan.

To be honest, even if none of this had happened, Zhao Zicheng had already planned his escape during the Jingkang Incident. He thought that if there were ever another round of negotiations, he would definitely intercept Zhao Gou's mission and replicate his escape route.

Even if there was no last chance for negotiation, or because he had offended the Jin people too badly before, Zhao Huan dared not send him again.

Then I still have one last option: to ask for permission to lead a small team to help defend the city, or to find another excuse to break through and escape Bianjing.

Alternatively, one could be more cautious and see if Zhao Huan had wronged him at the last moment, such as wanting to use Zhao Zicheng to quell the Jin army's anger. If Zhao Huan had wronged him first, Zhao Zicheng could then legitimately break out and escape, shifting the blame for his injustice to the emperor, and the people would likely understand him—of course, this step should only be taken as a last resort, and one should try to avoid this step if there are other options.

However, at this very moment, having received urgent intelligence from Guan Sheng that the Jurchens had launched a surprise attack on the three coastal prefectures of Hebei East Road, a new plan for dealing with the situation and escaping involuntarily surfaced in Zhao Zicheng's mind.

Zhao Zicheng quickly realized that the butterfly effect he had caused had already altered the fate of a local official with whom he had a grudge—

As mentioned earlier, Liu Yu, who later became the emperor of the puppet Qi dynasty, was originally sent to Liangzhe Road in Jiangnan as an inspector after the suppression of Fang La's rebellion to thoroughly investigate the responsibility of Liangzhe officials for exploitation during the Fang La rebellion.

In this life, Liu Yu's life trajectory before becoming the Inspector of Liangzhe Circuit was still the same. However, after he went to Liangzhe Circuit to serve as the Inspector, he discovered that Zhao Zicheng had reaped many benefits during the pacification of Fang La. He even wrote a memorial to impeach Zhao Zicheng, thus creating a grudge.

However, Emperor Huizong of Tang did not care about his distant nephew's greed for money. In fact, he even hoped that his distant nephew would be greedy for money and want to buy land and houses, so that he would not be a threat. Therefore, Liu Yu's impeachment was eventually dropped.

However, Zhao Ji also realized that Liu Yu and Zhao Zicheng were at odds and could be used to monitor Zhao Zicheng. Later, after Zhao Zicheng participated in suppressing the Song Jiang Rebellion, Zhao Ji sent Liu Yu to Qingzhou as the prefect, which was obviously also to monitor Zhao Zicheng.

However, Zhao Zicheng's plans were very solid. He had civil and military officials like Hu Yanqing and Chen Guoting who were completely obedient to him and had won him over. In addition, Zhao Zicheng never intended to interfere in the affairs of Qingzhou and Jinan Prefecture, and only made trouble in his small territory on the Denglai Peninsula. As a result, Liu Yu could not find out anything about Zhao Zicheng, and the two sides remained at peace for several years.

Now, the Jin army has launched a surprise attack and reached Cangzhou, Hejian, and Dezhou. If they cross the Ji River further south, they will reach Jinan and Qingzhou.

Zhao Zi said that when he thought about how Liu Yu had been a major traitor in history, and now that the trajectory had changed, was it possible that Liu Yu had become a traitor a few years earlier?

After a brief analysis, he felt that this was very likely.

Although Liu Yu in history only became a traitor in the second year of Jianyan, that does not mean that he was unwilling to be a traitor before that. The reason why he became a traitor so late in history was because he was ostracized by the officials of the Jiangnan court and forced to go to the front line in Jinan to suffer the knives of the Jin people. They wanted to use him as a tool to kill his political enemies.

Therefore, Liu Yu was essentially a coward who feared death and was willing to betray his country to deal with his political enemies.

Now, due to Zhao Zicheng's butterfly effect, Liu Yu has been pushed to the front lines of Jinan Prefecture and Qingzhou several years ahead of schedule, and he is already facing the Jurchen's slaughter. Can he withstand it?

Moreover, Liu Yu knew that he had offended Zhao Zicheng, and offended him severely. Zhao Zicheng had recently gained a good reputation and was in the limelight. He had also been granted the title of Prince and had made great contributions in negotiating with the Jin people and in forcing the Jin army to retreat last time.

If Zhao Zicheng's power were to gain influence in the court, given Liu Yu's petty and suspicious nature, it's highly likely he would imagine that important officials in the court would frame him.

Therefore, there is a high probability that Liu Yu became a traitor before the fact!

What to do? Zhao Zicheng was in Bianjing, so he couldn't directly stop Liu Yu. At most, he could write a letter to Guan Sheng, Qin Ming, and other military generals who secretly listened to him, asking them to keep an eye on Liu Yu.

But Zhao Zicheng immediately thought that in history, Guan Sheng, a staunch resister, was actually betrayed and killed by Liu Yu. He couldn't be too explicit or prescient, allowing Guan Sheng to strike first. But if he didn't strike first, he feared that a loyal and upright man like Guan Sheng wouldn't be able to outmaneuver the cunning Liu Yu.

After much deliberation, Zhao Zicheng finally came up with a plan.

He immediately wrote a secret letter to Guan Sheng and had it delivered to Jinan Prefecture by express courier as fast as possible, so that it could reach Guan Sheng.

The letter merely reminded Guan Sheng that "Liu Yu is my enemy, and he is cowardly and afraid of the enemy. Be wary of him defecting to the enemy and becoming a traitor. However, Brother Guan is too upright and may not be able to detect Liu Yu's subtle movements. Therefore, you must not act rashly. If you find that things are not going to work, you can feign compliance to buy time while waiting for the imperial army to quell the rebellion."

In this way, firstly, they could preserve their lives and avoid sacrificing themselves in vain; secondly, they could prevent Jinan and Qingzhou from being reduced to wasteland in an instant. Because the Jurchens were brutal, they had previously massacred entire cities in Cangzhou and other places. If Jinan and Qingzhou surrendered temporarily, the Jurchens would be too embarrassed to massacre the cities, and the lives of the people in the two prefectures could be temporarily saved.

"If you trust me, brother, take this letter with you. It will prove that your cooperation with the rebels is a pretense, and that your heart is with the Song even though you are in the Jin camp. When I manage to escape and quell the rebellion, you can then defect to the Song and launch a surprise attack on Liu Yu from behind. I will ensure that you are rewarded and punished."

The letter was delivered to Guan Sheng in just three to five days after it was written.

Guan Sheng was shocked when he saw this, because he had indeed realized that Liu Yu, the Prefect, was acting strangely these past few days. He had been hesitating whether to remind or dissuade Liu Yu from doing something humiliating like surrendering, since the garrison forces of the Eastern Route of Jingdong were clearly still capable of fighting.

But after reading Zhao Zicheng's letter, he finally restrained himself. He would endure, feign compliance, and pretend to be of one mind with Liu Yu, focusing on saving the lives of his soldiers and the people first. Other matters could wait until Prince Xiu arrived.

Guan Sheng was also aware of Xiu Wang's recent exploits: entering the Jin camp with only a few followers to negotiate, then launching a surprise attack that ultimately forced the Jin to negotiate peace and withdraw their troops—what a display of courage! Even Guan Sheng held him in high esteem.

He believed that if King Xiu made a promise, he would definitely keep it. He told himself to temporarily defect to the enemy and lie low, so he would obediently lie low.

And just as Guan Sheng finished doing all this, Liu Yu indeed raised the flag of betrayal!
The urgent news that Jingdong East Road was in dire need of help, and that Jinan Prefecture and Qingzhou had been captured by the Jin army without bloodshed, was sent to Bianjing by express courier at a speed of 600 li.

This made Emperor Zhao Huan, who was already uneasy, even more horrified.

At this moment, Zhao Zicheng entered the palace to request an audience, hoping the emperor would give him a chance.

He didn't want soldiers; instead, he was willing to emulate Guo Ziyi's solo retreat against the Uyghurs and persuade those generals in the Eastern Route of Jingdong who had momentarily lost their minds and defected to the enemy, lest they go further down the wrong path.

(End of this chapter)